The most notorious place in Albania

CoE must be allowed to visit Yellow house

TIRANA, Albania — Investigators from the Council of Europe (CoE) must be allowed to visit a house in Ripa where Serbia claims members of the Kosovo Liberation Army harvested organs from Serb civilians and prisoners of war years ago, says Kastriot Islami. The opposition representative in Albania’s delegation to the Council of Europe (CoE), spoke out on Wednesday (August 12th) after his government said the CoE lacks a mandate to investigate the so-called “yellow house”. Islami, a member of the opposition Socialist Party who served as foreign minister between 2003 and 2005, says Albania, as member of the CoE, should respect Strasbourg’s decision to launch the probe. Earlier this week, a CoE delegation led by Special Rapporteur Dick Marty was turned away from the house by village residents who blocked its entrance for hours. The delegation ended up returning to Tirana. (Gazetatema – 13/08/09; Makfax – 12/08/09)